i thought the rules of enduro was that everyone rode the same trail, including the ups, for the whole way round? i suppose cos the climbs/links aren't timed people will disregard that rule if they see an opportunity to cut the course

saying that i did the NDH enduro at hamsterley a few weeks ago, pretty chilled out event and don't think anyone would batter an eyelid/give a toss what route you took to the start of the sections

the set route from 1 to 2 was silly long and there was a way to get there without crossing any other stages, is this really cheating?

They are supposed to be fun events and as long as your not cutting corners on the race stages is it such a big issue.

Of course it's cheating, if it was easier to do the short course then you could take a far 'downhillier' bike, fit supertacky tyres, full body armour for confidence etc. The whole point of Enduro is it's a lap with timed sections. The transition sections are supposed to be hard enough that the people who put in the hours over the winter getting fit are at an advantage, either by not missing the next start time, being able to manage the above mentioned 'downhillier' bike up the climbs, or just being fresher (their choice, it's a ballanceing act).

If it's supposed to be a 'fun' event, why cheat? Do you hate riding your bike?

Precicely, and you'd be 30 min fresher than the guy your raceing against, which is an unfair advantage. Not far off joining an XC race on the last lap and being quicker than everyone who's already been out for 2 hours.

The whole route may not have been timed but it was the route. End of, you ride the course. Apart from sportsmanship there is safety as if you skip out and crash the marshal's don't know where you are and may spend hours looking for you.

Agree people taking the short cut was unfair. I rode the full track like we were meant to - it was a slog in blazing sunshine and I reckon those that skipped the long route would have had much fresher legs, especially considering the stage after the big climb was one of the super pedally ones!! It also mean't a back log of riders waiting to start stage 2...

I went round with three locals who knew the forest like the back of their hands and they thought it was a strange way to get to moor top ( the start of stage 2). As we were going round (and up and down,then up and down again) we were wondering where is everyone else is then got to the start of stage 2 and there was loads of people waiting to set off. To me it looked like more people took the short cut than the proper route round.

A lot of the people just went straight up the fire road towards moor top, the more intelligent ones went up the side of the black towards start of stage 1 and instead of a left turn they went straight on. turn right at the next jct and you@re back on the route to stage 2 but you have just cut the bottom off.

I saw riders getting DQ'd last year at the EWS final for shortcutting a transition to arrive fresher - little did they know there was a waypoint....... Same at the Great Wood round of Enduro1 last season too.